FGCU Baseball vs UNF Game Two Recap

The FGCU baseball team (14-7, 1-1 ASUN) rallied to a 5-2 victory against UNF (15-10, 1-1 ASUN) Saturday afternoon at Harmon Stadium after dropping the first game of the ASUN Conference-opening series Friday night.

"That was a good, solid game. We got a great start from (Mason) Studstill and a great relief job by (Hunter) McGarry," head coach Dave Tollett said. "On offense, we put together a complete game. We were able to get leadoff guys on base and play solid baseball all the way around. I was glad to see Jalen Townsend come off the bench and get a hit and it was nice to see what (Marc) Coffers could do back in the leadoff spot."

The Eagles were the first to get on the board when juniors Kohl Gilmore and Richie Garcia cranked out back-to-back RBI singles that plated junior Marc Coffers and freshman Joe Kinker. The runs put the Green and Blue up 2-0 in the third.

Junior Mason Studstill started on the hill for FGCU. After walking one and giving up his first hit of the game in the fifth inning, he was relieved by junior Hunter McGarry. Studstill finished the day with seven strikeouts, five walks and a single hit after facing 22 batters. McGarry inherited two of Studstill's runners when he entered the game, but recorded the final two outs to end the frame.

The Eagles tacked on some insurance runs to their lead with a three-spot in the seventh inning. Garcia brought in classmate Alex Brait with a sacrifice fly to start the scoring. Senior Eric Gonzalez added an RBI of his own with a single that scored senior Jay Hayes. Freshman Jalen Townsend rounded out the inning when he plated Kinker after sneaking a ball up the middle.

UNF broke into the run column with back-to-back RBIs in the bottom of the seventh. The scoring trimmed FGCU's lead down to 5-2, which the Eagles held through the final out.

McGarry picked up his third save of the season after his 3.2 innings of work. He finished the day with three strikeouts and gave up just two runs on three hits. Studstill (3-0) was awarded the win and remains perfect on the season in that category.

Six different Eagles recorded hits in today's game and Garcia led the scoring effort with two RBIs. With today's Green and Blue win, the series is now knotted up 1-1. FGCU also snapped a nine-game regular season losing streak to the Ospreys that dated back to April 29, 2016.

Up Next:
The teams will cap off their conference opener at 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon at Harmon Stadium. The Eagles - who have still yet to drop a series this season - will be attempting to claim their first series triumph over UNF since 2015.